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Table of Contents
Football Flyers
Broad Question
Does temperature affect the kick distance of a football?
Specific Question
Will a football be kicked farther when it is heated, at room temperature, or freezing?Independent Variable: Temperature of ball
Dependent Variable: Kick Distance (cm)
Variables That Need To Be Controlled: kicking place, football type, kicking machine, whether outside, thermometer
Hypothesis
I predict that the football will kick the farthest when it is heated, followed by the room temperature, then the frozen one least farthest.Graph of Hypothesis
General Plan
Experimental Design
I will be conducting my experiment in the old Tech Ed. Rooms in the basement of Kennett Middle School. Mrs. Ballou will be downstairs helping me and supervising me. She will be helping measure the distance. My step dad will help me build the kicking machine.
I will be conducting 15 kicks at each temperature. With three temperatures, this will be 45 kicks. I will create a spreadsheet and record the data in that. Each kick will be measured in meters, from where it was kicked to where it first hit the ground. The three temperatures are: heated, frozen and room temperature.
Materials List
Detailed Procedure
Procedure
1. Construct kicking machine
2. place football on tee in front of machine
3. Place frozen football on tee
4. Pull arm of machine back into swinging position
5. Release arm so that it kicks the ball
6. Measure distance and record
7. Repeat steps 3-6 fifteen times with each temperature
Results
Conclusion
The purpose of this experiment was to see which temperature of football would cause it to be kicked the farthest distance. The temperatures tested were frozen, heated, and room temperature. Each one was tested 15 times, so I averaged out the distances. The average results of the experiment were that the heated football kicked farthest, with 182.7 centimeters on average. This was followed by room temperature at 176.4 cm, and last was freezing, with 145.4 centimeters. Some errors may have occurred with the temperatures,they may have been different in their category. The overall results were that the heated football kicked farther than both the freezing football and the room temperature.Averages
Graphs
Photos
Background Research
I’ve found that the temperature of a football really affects the kick distance. A hotter football should travel father than one that is frozen. When the air is colder, the molecules stick close together, causing air to be denser. The closer molecules cause the ball to have a much higher air resistance upon it.
When the football is colder, the ball deflates. This makes the football much harder to kick. When imagining a deflated basketball bouncing, it does not bounce well. This is like kicking a deflated football. It is much easier to kick an over inflated football than a deflated one.
The reason of the football is expanding is the gas inside the football. When the gases are heated, they expand, causing the ball itself to expand. Just the opposite happens when the gases are frozen. It can be a lot harder to kick a field goal in a frozen condition.
References
Discussion
My hypothesis was that the heated football would travel farther. My results do support my hypothesis. The only patterns were that the heated football consistently traveled farther. The independent variable of my experiment always changed the dependent. When the temperature changed, so did the distance of the kick. I think the tests went extremely smooth. There were not any altercations in the experiment.If I could have made sure that the footballs were always the same in their category, I would have made the experiment better. A future study might involve a regulation sized football and a better heat transmitter.